While the FCPyF is no longer a string of micro layouts and now has its own thread here in the Layouts section I have not abandoned the Pick and mix thread.

Wednesdays are my day off work and I've been feeling lazy today so pottering around in the garage instead of getting more important things done. Taking a break from the big layout, I have been building another bottle diorama.

Unlike the first two this one is On30, part of the FCPyF but not connected to the main layout in any way. Nor is it designed to connect at a later date but that's not to say it won't. You know what I'm like for changing my mind.

The new micro is a simple passing siding located in a cramped hillside site between a tunnel mouth and a patch of dense forest.

The scenic area is sandwiched between a pair of fiddlesticks designed primarily for railcar use but short loco hauled trains can (just) be fitted in, as seen in the photo of the Forney with the Corris style open saloon.

It's still work in progress and will take a back seat to the main layout, so that progress may be slow._________________Bob Hughes
Playing Trains

Once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with and once I could never be down.

Bob, will it be beer barrels next time, or will that slow down build time even more whilst you finish the contents _________________Simon Dawson
Will try anything once, looking for the ultimate easy to set up portable exhibition layout, preferably French narrow gauge and with lots going on, not necessary on the rails.

Welcome to the Peach Bottom Railway, yes, honestly, it did exist.
You could not make it up!

Anyway, my PBR is a shortline which has adopted the name of the historical railway when it took over operation of routes abandoned by the local class one railroad.

Sand Creek Junction is an urban location where the branch to Sand Creek leaves the PBR main line, a yard is on the other side of the far bridge while the main line and the branch diverge under the bridge nearer to the viewer.

So far I have glued the track down then wired and weathered it prior to ballasting. The retaining walls and bridges are mocked up to give an idea of what the layout will look like.

N scale standard gauge modelling comes as something of a shock to the system after working in On30 and Gn15 for so long!_________________Bob Hughes
Playing Trains

Once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with and once I could never be down.

I've not been active in this thread for a while because the FCPyF is no longer a microlayout... But I do like them small, so I've started a new FCPyF project, just a small diorama, possibly to be used as a bookend when finished.

While the FCPyF has taken over from micros as the centre of my attention that doesn't mean I'm not still rubbergauging.

Hazy Days (above) hasn't seen any serious usage since... Well since a long time ago and a lot of things have happened since then. The little 1:12 scale model has been accumulating dust and cobwebs in the garage and needed a serious kick to get me interested in it again.

That kick came in the form of a few whacks with a lump hammer, it's quite amazing how something that took so long to create can be dismantled in a matter of minutes. All is not lost though, quite the reverse as a Phoenix arises from the ashes.

The new microlayout is a "tuning fork" design so I'll be able to shunt in the yard instead of just pushing wagons to and fro.

Hazy Days was operated using fishing line power but the new layout will rely on my large scale garden shed.

The warehouse and outside loo both survived the hammer and will feature in the new model. Track laying is virtually complete. Part of the front siding has the rails soldered directly onto nails in the baseboard, this track will be buried in the surface of the yard. The last couple of inches of the rear siding (inset) are still missing, I'm considering extending the track through the warehouse door to facilitate loading "inside the building" out of sight.

I was going to call it "Hazy Days MkII" but, as I write this, I'm thinking that "Phoenix Yard" might suit it better. It'll still be a quite corner of a minimum gauge agricultural railway, where the teenagers can continue sharing their packet of ciggies and bottle of cider, but there'll be more room for other little vignettes too._________________Bob Hughes
Playing Trains

Once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with and once I could never be down.

Hum. I've just found this layout again. It was buried under a pile of clean bedding stored on the top bunk in the spare room and surfaced while I was looking for some winter blankets.

Instead of being the Peach Bottom Railway it would work as a "bitsa" station in a German setting, an interest rekindled by the surprise appearance of Sandbach in the latest booklet.

Pfirsich-Boden Bahn?

I've got a lot more German than US stock in N scale, and providing the knitting required for operating via the OHLE would give much more reliable running then could be had with track contact only as a US diesel layout. Tempting, very tempting indeed, as the weather gets colder and those winter blankets get used._________________Bob Hughes
Playing Trains

Once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with and once I could never be down.

I have been meaning to do this for quite a while, finally got round to it at breakfast time this morning. The burn previously appeared to run from a cave at the foot of the cliff, indeed some of the water may still come from that source, but there is now a waterfall cascading down from under the bushes at the top of the rock face.

I've decided to have another go at modelling "The Bays", a bitsa mainline passenger operation on a microlayout. The scheme involves ideas from Sutton Road and other previous layouts to depict the buffer stop ends of a pair of bays with a carriage siding between them.

The rest of the bays are hidden from view beyond the overbridge so reasonably long passenger trains can be implied by just the loco and first vehicle of arriving trains or the tail end of departures. The carriage siding allows for some local shunting as well as the stabling of odd locos.

Yes, this is deja vu, I have tried the same idea before but lost interest due to other projects taking priority. Timing is of the essence here, it's too cold to work on the FCPyF in the garage so I need something small and portable to keep me occupied indoors for the winter. _________________Bob Hughes
Playing Trains

Once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with and once I could never be down.

Castle Hill Quarry was, in real life, a small stone quarry on the hill going by the same name high above the town where I grew up. It did actually have a very short NG tramway, only about 100 yds long and manually operated, but I've fictionalised it to include a longer line with loco working.

As seems to have become the norm with my minimum gauge micro layouts it is a simple tuning fork plan but the trackwork differs in that it includes a single blade kick switch.

The locos are fishing line powered. Me? Cheapskate? Oh yes, very much so!

Spot the extensive use of coffee stirrers on the electric loco, both wagons, wheelbarrow, toilet door and even the sleepers buried in the mud). _________________Bob Hughes
Playing Trains

Once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with and once I could never be down.

You could easily imagine the Daily Wail headline... "Foreign power invades Yorkshire!"

FCPyF #1 is visiting for the summer season. The ancient 2-4-0 doesn't get much of an opportunity for service on its home rails because it lacks the power to deal with the fierce Andean gradients but it is quite capable of handling trains on the Seaside Line._________________Bob Hughes
Playing Trains

Once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with and once I could never be down.

I cleared the debris off my 1:12 scale micro this morning, it had become a dumping ground for all sorts of bits and pieces. It's my day off tomorrow and there's no jobs urgently outstanding on the FCPyF at the moment so I should be able to make some progress with Phoenix Yard.

Work still required to complete the scenery includes the warehouse roof and a proper semblance of a winch on the girder above the upper storey door.

I do rather like that last photo._________________Bob Hughes
Playing Trains

Once there were mountains on mountains and once there were sunbirds to soar with and once I could never be down.